Bleak House

Bleak House is one of my favorite books and the BBC televersion strikes me as wonderful. I disagree, though, with those who feel that the wonderful actress who plays Esther Summerson rescues "a tiresomely one-dimensional character in the book" - rather, I think she awesomely expresses what Dickens meant us to understand her to be, in the book. His clues to her non-stereotypical character and feelings are expressed, though, through references that are no longer easy to decode without special historical knowledge - some of it pretty, well, specialized. I suspect that if the person who wrote my quoted bit - which was part of an excellent comment and is itself beautifully put - went back to the book after seeing the BBC production, more of the book would reveal itself. Yet, even to him or her - probably not everything! The production doesn't take it on, for example, to explain why everybody at Bleak House calls Esther "Dame Trot" - but there *is* a reason!

Having worked in the cinema for most of my life, I tend to regard television - virtually all television - as shallow and second rate. But here is a totally magnificent adaptation of one of Dickens' more challenging novels.

As in most Dickens, here money - a surfeit and a lack of it - structures the complex comings and goings of a labyrinthine plot. The characters are fabulous and some of them - Skimpole and Mr Guppy, for example - may very well become well-known archetypes due to the popularity and power of this adaptation, in the same way that Micawber and Fagin are. The darkness of the sets makes for some wonderfully expressive design work, and the music is brilliantly chosen.

In fact it might be perfect...it's just that Anna Maxwell Martin as the central Esther Summerson is just a bit too simpering... But when you think how flaccid Charles Dance usually is, his Tulkinghorn is a truly creepy creation.... Plenty more to come, but to date (after four episodes), this looks to me better Dickens than anything outside Christine Edzard's 'Little Dorritt' and Lean's 'Great Expectations' - and it could even better them...

PBS is broadcasting "Bleak House" as an initial 2-hour segment, followed by 1-hour segments on subsequent weeks, for I believe 5 weeks: a total of 6 broadcasts. Now, halfway through, I have to say that this is some of the best, if not the best, television I have ever seen. The actors are incredible. The cast is perfect. Every single one of them is a master at his or her craft. Nothing finer! The tele-film is superb from the grimy lighting and atmosphere to parallel Dickens' own description of his times. The only thing I can find fault with is the soundtrack. The "whooshing," "clanging" transitions I find off-putting, but to me a minor flaw in this otherwise outstanding rendition of one of Dickens' most daunting novels.

Half-way through this version of Charles Dickens' weighty novel seems a good time to comment on it. The BBC have taken the view that, as Bleak House was originally presented to its reading public in short magazine instalments, it is a good idea to present it in half-hour segments twice a week in the soap opera tradition.

Andrew Davies, who has adapted other books before such as Pride and Prejudice and House of Cards, has done an excellent job here - tweaking and inventing as you must to make television drama work, but without losing the context of the piece.

Despite the jarring camera work and bitty scenes, there are some outstanding performances here - Charles Dance as the scheming lawyer Tulkinghorn; Denis Lawson as John Jarndyce, attracted to his ward Esther despite having paid for her upkeep since she was a child; Pauline Collins as Miss Flyte, ever twittering on alongside her caged birds about 'the day of judgement'; Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock, who tries to hide her mysterious secret; Johnny Vegas, who fits the character of drunken landlord Krook like a glove; and many others.

There are also witty and perceptive cameos from the likes of Richard Griffiths, Matthew Kelly, and Ian Richardson.

I would have preferred to see hour-long episodes but that is only a small quibble (the other would be the invention of a character - Clamb - who seems to serve no useful purpose). This is an inventive and excellent adaptation; not replacing the classic 1980s version, perhaps, but a worthy companion to it.

I've just watched the first episode, and I thought it was the best classic adaptation on British television for years. (I have been tiring of costume-drama-by-numbers, and of Andrew Davies's superficial adaptations in particular, but they've got this one right, in my opinion). The directing is excellent, producing uniformly good performances from the actors - even from the likes of Johnny Vegas - and particularly from Charles Dance as Tulkinghorn and from the actress playing Esther Summerson (a tiresomely one-dimensional character in the book).

The camera moves around in response to characters' actions in an interesting way, and scenes open and close with swooshing sounds of the sort used these days in sci-fi feature films, keeping things vibrant. Since the early parts of the book are the least successful, I'm sure this serial can't help but go from strength to strength.

My favourite scene was Guppy's hilarious proposal of marriage to Esther.